Designing a School Makerspace. Makerspaces, STEAM labs and fab labs are popping up in schools across the country.
Makerspaces provide hands-on, creative ways to encourage students to design, experiment, build and invent as they deeply engage in science, engineering and tinkering. A makerspace is not solely a science lab, woodshop, computer lab or art room, but it may contain elements found in all of these familiar spaces. Therefore, it must be designed to accommodate a wide range of activities, tools and materials. Diversity and cross-pollination of activities are critical to the design, making and exploration process, and they are what set makerspaces and STEAM labs apart from single-use spaces. A possible range of activities might include: Cardboard construction Prototyping Woodworking Electronics Robotics Digital fabrication Building bicycles and kinetic machines Textiles and sewing Designing a space to accommodate such a wide range of activities is a challenging process.
Ask the Right Questions. Lewis and Clark Elementary: MakerSpace. Kickstart a Kids’ Makerspace. This article first appeared in MAKE Volume 38, on pages 28–29.
There’s a scene in Iron Man 3 where a young boy comes home from school to discover that his workshop has been outfitted with just about every cool maker gadget and tool imaginable, all provided by billionaire Tony Stark as a thank-you to the boy for assistance earlier in the movie. Only a handful of tools are recognizable — what’s memorable is the huge grin on the kid’s face when he opens that door and sees all the possibilities that are available to him. Yes, he’s a fictional character, but his real-life counterparts are out there — millions of American kids just waiting for their own workshops and hungry to learn and experiment and build.
How many of the nation’s 54 million elementary and secondary students have access to the state-of-the-art tools that can spark creativity, nurture curious minds, and ignite the next wave of innovators? Probably less than 1%. The Tools 3D Printers Laser Cutters CNC/Milling Machines. Wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf. How to play. Print coloring pages fromhere Paint.
LEO the Maker Prince. I Created A Little Makerspace To-Go.....It Even Includes A Makerspace Mobile Too! On Monday and Tuesday of next week I have the honor of presenting to a variety of educators including administrators, teacher librarians, technology coordinators, and classroom teachers at the TIES Conference in Minneapolis.
My presentations focus around makerspaces and the importance of the make movement and these spaces in education. By definition makerspaces are creative, DIY spaces where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. Making our Mark for You: Albert City-Truesdale Elementary Celebrates Dot Day. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to this blog via e-mail or our RSS feed.
We also are each on Twitter (see sidebar on right). Thanks for visiting! Albert City-Truesdale students celebrated Dot Day, an international event celebrating the mark all of us make on the world, in connection with their traditional Grandparents’ Day on Friday, September 19. Wednesday, September 17 and Thursday, September 18, elementary students participated in a maker version of Dot Day “Making our Mark for You” #makerdot.
The maker time consisted of sessions connected to the Core that allowed students the opportunity to think, design, and create. The days were broken into grade spans. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 3D Printing lead by PLAEA Instructional Technology Consultant, Mr. 8. 9. New Iowa State mobile classroom brings advanced technology learning to K-12 schools. AMES, Iowa – Sure they flock to 3-D movies and send Instagrams with a frenzy, but can they model a tractor part with a MakerBot?
Or test ergonomic design with Oculus Rift? Although Iowa’s K-12 population is tech savvy, they still have more to learn before maneuvering through advanced technology to solve problems in design and manufacturing, says an Iowa State University industrial design professor.